Dominique Ansel on the Best Ways to Score a Cronut

The pastry chef shared a couple tips at the New York Wine & Food Festival’s Jets & Chefs Event

Dan Myers

Dominique Ansel handed out Cronut holes all afternoon long.

On Saturday, October 20th, the Jets & Chefs Tailgate Party, hosted by Mario Batali and footbakk great Joe Namath, took over the roof of Pier 92 on the far west side of Manhattan, the same location as the Burger Bash the night before. While Batali presented a demo of making sloppy Joes and meatballs with his sons Benno and Leo, and Namath himself even made a couple (very brief) appearances, the longest line at the event was at pastry chef Dominique Ansel’s booth, where he personally served cronut holes filled with spiced apple butter to a line that sometimes stretched 60 deep.

“It’s still hard for me to tell exactly why the Cronut is so popular,” he told us. “I suppose it’s because it’s new, it’s fun, and it’s original.”

He told us that the line for one of the 350 to 400 Cronuts his team makes daily is still as long as it’s ever been, and that the only way to score one is to camp out. “If you want a Cronut, you just need to be patient,” he added. “I’d also recommend checking the weather first.”